Roma and Real Madrid are both within sight of the UEFA Champions League knockout rounds as they meet at the Stadio Olimpico on matchday five, when first place in Group G could be decided.
• Holders Madrid were 3-0 winners at the Santiago Bernabéu on matchday one thanks to goals from Isco (45), Gareth Bale (58) and Mariano Díaz (90+1) – their third win in a row, and third successive clean sheet, against Roma. The Italian club, however, have won all three Group G matches since that loss in Spain and are level with Madrid on nine points.
• With CSKA Moskva on four points and Viktoria Plzeň one, Madrid will clinch a round of 16 place as group winners with victory. They will also be through regardless of their result if CSKA fail to win at home to Plzeň. Roma will secure a top-two finish with a draw or if CSKA do not win.
Previous meetings
• The sides have become familiar UEFA Champions League foes in the 21st century – all 11 of their meetings have come from September 2001 onwards.
• The first six fixtures all came in the group stage, Madrid picking up four points from their two games against Roma in the 2001/02 first group stage and all six in 2004/05, while each club won their away games in the 2002/03 first group stage.
• Roma, however, ousted Madrid in the 2007/08 round of 16, winning both legs 2-1.
• Most recently, Madrid got the better of Roma in the last 16 of their triumphant 2015/16 campaign, winning 2-0 both away and home.
Form guide
Roma
• Roma responded to their opening loss at Real Madrid by beating Plzeň 5-0 on matchday two, their record UEFA Champions League victory. They then won 3-0 at home to CSKA Moskva and 2-1 away, the first time their have recorded three successive European victories since November-December 2009.
• Third in Serie A in 2017/18, Roma are in the group stage for an 11th time and the fourth in five years.
• Roma, runners-up in the 1983/84 European Cup, reached the semi-finals last season, losing to Liverpool. They finished top of a group including Chelsea and Atlético Madrid, before beating Shakhtar Donetsk and Barcelona in the knockout rounds – the latter particularly memorable, as a 4-1 away defeat was followed by a 3-0 victory at the Stadio Olimpico – before succumbing to Liverpool.
• The Rome club won all three home matches in last season’s knockout rounds and five of their six matches at the Stadio Olimpico overall, drawing against Atlético Madrid on matchday one. They kept clean sheets in the first five matches, before a 4-2 win against Liverpool in the semi-final second leg.
• Roma have now won eight of their last 15 home matches in the UEFA Champions League – qualifying included – losing four.
• The Giallorossi’s defeat of Barcelona last season ended a run of four home games without a win against Spanish visitors, since that 2-1 scalp of Real Madrid in the 2007/08 round of 16. Roma have won only two of their last 11 games against Spanish sides, home and away (D2 L7); they had won their previous three matches before that run.
Real Madrid
• Madrid went down 1-0 at CSKA Moskva on matchday two – only the club’s fifth defeat in the last 36 European matches – before beating Plzeň 2-1 at home and 5-0 away, the latter marking Santiago Solari’s first match in charge following the departure of Julen Lopetegui on 29 October.
• Madrid are holders and 13-time champions. Semi-finalists or better in each of the last eight seasons, this is their 49th European Cup campaign – more than any other side.
• Third in last season’s Liga, the Spanish giants are in the UEFA Champions League group stage for the 23rd time – a competition high they share with Barcelona and Porto.
• In 2017/18, Madrid finished second in their group – the second year running they had been runners-up in their section – but went on to beat Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus and Bayern München in the knockout rounds before Gareth Bale (2) and Karim Benzema scored in the 3-1 final victory against Liverpool in Kyiv.
• Madrid picked up six points away from home in last season’s group stage, losing 3-1 at Tottenham but winning 3-1 at Borussia Dortmund and 6-0 at APOEL – the latter result their biggest away success in the UEFA Champions League.
• Victory in Plzen on matchday four means Madrid have won 12 of their last 20 European away matches, losing just four.
• Madrid’s six-game winning run against Italian opponents was ended by Juventus – who they beat in the 2016/17 UEFA Champions League final in the middle of that run – in last season’s quarter-final second leg. Madrid were beaten 3-1 at home, but squeezed through having won 3-0 in Turin.
• The Merengues have won their last three games in Italy, having previously gone eight matches without a victory (D4 L4).
• Under Lopetegui, the Merengues lost 4-2 to Atlético Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup in Tallinn in August, denying them a third straight triumph in the competition. The defeat in Moscow meant Madrid lost two European fixtures out of four under Lopetegui before his departure.
Links and trivia
• Have played in Spain:
Iván Marcano (Real Racing Club 2006–09, Villarreal 2009/10, Getafe 2010/11)
Steven N’Zonzi (Sevilla 2015–18)
Federico Fazio (Sevilla 2007–14 & 2016)
Diego Perotti (Sevilla 2008–14)
• N’Zonzi was in the Sevilla team beaten 3-2 by Madrid in the 2017 UEFA Super Cup.
• International team-mates:
Ante Ćorić & Luka Modrić (Croatia)
Steven N’Zonzi & Raphaël Varane (France)
Juan Jesus & Casemiro, Marcelo (Brazil)
• Toni Kroos scored Germany’s last-gasp winner past Sweden’s Robin Olsen in the group stage of this summer’s FIFA World Cup.
• Italy’s Daniele De Rossi scored a penalty equaliser against a Spain side featuring Dani Carvajal, Sergio Ramos and Nacho in a 1-1 World Cup qualifying draw in October 2016.
• Isco scored twice as Spain, also featuring Carvajal, Ramos and Marco Asensio, beat De Rossi and Italy 3-0 in September 2017.
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